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Salad

To Salt Haddocks or Whitings

A method of preserving haddocks or whitings by salting and alum.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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To Salt Haddocks or Whitings

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Clean the fish and split them open.

  2. Lay them in coarse sea salt for two days.

Dry and hang

  1. Wipe them dry and sprinkle with powdered alum.

  2. Hang them up in a warm place.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Haddocks or whitings
The fish is the main ingredient, whose flesh firms and dries as it cures.
Coarse sea salt
Draws out moisture and firms the flesh, preserving the fish through curing.
Powdered alum
Firms the flesh further and helps the fish keep its texture during drying.

The step that matters

Wiping the fish dry before adding alum. Surface moisture left on the fish can dilute the alum and slow even drying, so the fish may not firm evenly or may spoil. Drying the surface first helps the cure work uniformly.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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